Breast-Cancer Awareness Info for Your Promotions (Pink Ribbon Marketing)

The little pink ribbon is arguably the most recognizable of all awareness-campaign symbols. As a show of support for breast-cancer awareness, it’s been placed on everything from tubes of ChapStick and yogurt containers to M&Ms and Visa credit cards. But not everyone’s happy about the cause-awareness craze. Somewhere along the way, efforts to raise awareness have been labeled as “pinkwashing,” or using the cause for financial gain to help promote products. While a percentage of proceeds is generally donated to breast-cancer research (Susan G. Komen for the Cure reportedly benefits from these corporate partnerships to the tune of $30 million a year), critics claim the means are deceptive and that the companies gain much more than the charity does.

Still, breast-cancer awareness is big. Many dollars are spent promoting it and raising awareness, and many organizations are trying to associate their brands with this goodwill. Right now, there are about 2.5 million breast-cancer survivors in the United States. Add to that their families and friends, and you’ve got a huge market of people all very receptive to the pink ribbon. To help your clients exercise sensitive, goodwill marketing — and hopefully raise a little awareness in the process — read on for more information about the disease.

Facts and Stats

• In 2004, almost 187,000 women and about 1,800 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States; in the same year, almost 41,000 American women and 400 American men died from the disease. (Editor’s note: This data is from 2004, the most recent statistics available.)

• For men in the U.S., the risk of getting breast cancer is about one-tenth of 1 percent. The rate of breast-cancer cases in men has been fairly stable during the last 30 years.

• Breast cancer is the sixth-leading cause of death for U.S. women.

• Aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. It is also the No. 1 cause of cancer death in Hispanic women and the second most common cause of cancer death in white, black, Asian and Pacific Islander, and American Indian and native Alaskan women.

• Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, South Dakota and Tennessee have the lowest incidence of breast cancer, while Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont have the highest.

• In the U.S., the incidence of breast cancer among women decreased significantly — by 3.5 percent per year — from 2001 to 2004. Deaths from the disease among women decreased by 2.2 percent per year from 1990 through 2004.

• Of women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, approximately 11 percent died from the disease within five years and 20 percent within 10 years.

• Sixty-two percent of women regularly give themselves a breast self-examination, while only 14 percent of all women get a skin-cancer screening at least once a year.

Risk Factors

• Most women who are diagnosed with breast cancer don’t have any risk factors.

• Seventy percent to 80 percent of women who get breast cancer do not have a family history.

• Risk factors for breast cancer include: age – a woman’s risk increases as she gets older; genetics – about 5 percent to 10 percent of breast cancer cases are suspected to be a result of genes; family history – risk is highest among those who have a biological relative who has been diagnosed with breast cancer; race – white women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than are African-American women, but African-American women are more likely to die from it; not having children or having a first child after age 30; birth-control pills; hormone-replacement therapy; excessive alcohol consumption; and being overweight or obese.

Fundraising

• Susan G. Komen for the Cure (formerly The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) was founded in 1982 after Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan, that she would help find a cure for breast cancer.

• In 2007, for its 25th anniversary, the organization changed its name to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, created a new logo and adopted the explicit mission “To end breast cancer forever.”

• The Komen organization has invested nearly $1 billion in the effort.

• Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, American Cancer Society, National Breast Cancer Coalition, Meredith/NBC Universal “What do Women Want?” survey of 3,000 women, Wikipedia.org.